The developers of Helldivers 2 have posted a cryptic message and now players are hoping for a crossover with a popular co-op shooter.
What is the deal with the dwarves? The developers of Helldivers 2 posted a cryptic message in binary code on the official X account (formerly Twitter) of the game. This message contained the question “Where is Karl?” Shortly after, the post was deleted, only to be followed by a new post stating that this was an illegal transmission from the robots (via X.com).
Some players now suspect that the question “Where is Karl?” might be a reference to the popular co-op shooter “Deep Rock Galactic” (short: “DRG”), where you fight aliens, including bugs, as dwarves. Deep Rock Galactic responded in a comment on X.com, stating that they also do not know where Karl is.
Here you can view a screenshot of the deleted post as well as a screenshot of the new post on X.com:
Deep Rock Galactic is a popular co-op shooter with dwarves
What is Deep Rock Galactic actually about? Deep Rock Galactic is a co-op shooter that you can play with up to four players. You take on the role of heavily armed dwarves and carry out missions for the eponymous mining company “Deep Rock”.
The core principle of the game revolves around collecting resources and shooting aliens. For this purpose, the four different classes of dwarves provide you with various “tools” like flamethrowers and Gatling guns.
Deep Rock Galactic is one of the most popular and best co-op shooters on Steam, having gathered over 226,000 reviews since its release, of which an impressive 97% are positive. Helldivers 2 has 293,000 reviews with 85% positive. Both games are considered by MeinMMO editor Dariusz to be among the best PvE shooters.
Here you see a trailer for Deep Rock Galactic:
Who is Karl? Karl is a character in Deep Rock Galactic that players never get to see, but he is mentioned repeatedly in voice lines. Phrases like “This is for Karl” and “That thing swallowed bullets like Karl drank beer.” are commonly heard.
However, who exactly Karl is remains unknown. It is suspected that he is a former colleague of the four playable dwarves.
Players hope for a crossover between the two shooters
How do players interpret the post? What exactly the developers want to convey with the post is unknown. However, some users are now hoping for a crossover between Helldivers 2 and Deep Rock Galactic. The Helldivers could then fight side by side with dwarves.
- 013Enterprises via X.com: “Are we getting a DRG/ Helldivers crossover?”
- veledrome96 via X.com: “Is this a damn Deep Rock Galactic crossover? Can someone please explain this to me? I want it to be real so bad.”
- Ohzkhar1 via X.com: “Collaboration when? I want to press V to shout ‘Rock and Stone!'”
- nodnarb518 via X.com: “Oh man, a crossover would drive me insane! For Karl and Mother Earth!”
Since we do not know if the post was actually teasing a crossover, we also cannot gauge whether Mother Earth fights with or against the dwarves. One player therefore raises the valid question on X.com: “Does this mean that Deep Rock Galactic is a friend or foe?”
However, one enemy is definitely the nasty robots. They are once again attacking Mother Earth and threatening democracy. After the Helldivers took out the first fleet of nasty machines, it turned out that this was just a vanguard of the actual force:
After just two days, the robots in Helldivers 2 are back – With an even larger army and a goal
